Falamma jaat qeela ahakatha AAarshuki qalat kaannahu huwa waooteena alAAilma min qabliha (surah Naml: 42)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(27:42) When the queen arrived, she was asked, "Is your throne like this`?" She replied, "It is just the same. *52 We had already known this and we had surrendered (or we had become Muslims). " *53

Falammaa jaaa`at qeela ahaakaza `arshuki qaalat kaanna hoo; wa ooteenal `ilma min qablihaa wa kunnaa muslimeen

*52) This also refutes the speculations of those people who depict the event in :t manner as though the Prophet Solomon wanted to have u throne made for the queen and for this purpose he invited tenders and a strong, robust artisan offered to make hint a throne in the matter of a few hours, but ,n expert craftsman submitted that he could make and produce it in no time. This w hole guess-work is destroyed by the tact that Solomon himself ordered the throne to be fetched before him (v. 381,, and when it had been fetched, ordered his servants to set it before the queen casually Iv. 41), and then when she arrived, she was asked whetlter her throne was like that (v. 42), and she answered, "It is just the same." Obviously, there could he no room for the absurd interpretations in the face of such a clear statement of facts. If there is still any doubt left, it can be satisfied by the next sentence.
*53) That is, "Even before we saw this miracle we had been convinced by what we had heard of Solomon (peace be upon him) that he was a Prophet of Allah, and not merely a ruler of a kingdom." After seeing the throne and saying, "It is just the same", what could be the relevance of adding this sentence if it is supposed that the Prophet Solomon had got a throne manufactured and set the same before her? Even if it is supposed that no effort was spared to have a throne manufactured closely resembling the queen's what special excellence it could have to make a sun- worshipping queen exclaim "We had already known this and we had become Muslims!"